


Songs To Make You Feel Safe

by kissingandcrying (orphan_account)



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: M/M, Superfamily (Marvel)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-29
Updated: 2018-04-29
Packaged: 2019-04-29 11:05:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,907
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14471328
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/kissingandcrying
Summary: Keeping Peter occupied on bad-weather days was a chore. Which was sad because Tony had been confident in his problem solving skills before adopting an adolescent, and it was hard to admit that the self-assurance he’d spent his entire life building was evaporating by cause of  a few school cancellations and rainy days. OR Steve and Tony adopt a young Peter Parker.





	Songs To Make You Feel Safe

Keeping Peter occupied on bad-weather days was a chore. Which was sad because Tony had been confident in his problem solving skills before _adopting_ an adolescent, and it was hard to admit that the self-assurance he’d spent his entire life building was evaporating by cause of  a few school cancellations and rainy days.

“What does this do, Mr. Stark?”

“Put it down,” Tony said immediately. “Whatever you’re touching, don’t. Whatever you’re planning on touching, don’t. Whatever you’re looking at…”

“Don’t?”

“Don’t.”

There was a soft snapping noise followed by a quiet ‘whoops’ and Tony sighed. He looked over his shoulder to see Peter cradling errant pieces of plastic from one of Tony’s newest toys. It had come apart. He immediately hopped down from the bar-stool he’d stolen from the kitchen and went to take the pieces out of the boy’s hands.

“Look, kid, stop touching everything with your sticky little fingers. You’re messing up my space.” Not exactly what he should be saying to his new adopted son, but Steve could yell at him later. He needed to salvage his toys for now.

“Sorry. I’m bored,” Peter said honestly. He licked his lips and reached out for the remote that he’d so recently broken. He handed it to Tony and continued, “Could you tell me how to fix it?”

Steve wasn’t going to be back for a few hours. Tony and Peter were standing in his lab with a broken remote controller between them. An earlier look at the weather had told him that sending Peter on errands or just… away from him in general wasn’t going to work because the kid had abandonment issues when the weather was bad (something Tony had learned on the first few rainy days)and the rain wasn't quitting anytime soon. There were few other opportunities to get his new friend out of his hair.

Tony took a deep breath and said, “Okay. Let’s make a deal. I show you how to fix this, you _only_ mess with this. You don’t use this as an excuse to break more of my things.”

The excitement in the room was palpable. Peter smiled and then rocked up onto his toes. “Yeah, yeah. Okay. Cool. I can - I can do that Mr. Stark.”

He was an inquisitive kid which was by far one of his winning characteristics. Steve had fallen into an easy habit of adoration from the moment the boy had slicked down his cowlick and said, “Hello Mr. Rogers. I’m gonna be your son.” For Tony, something a bit more meaningful than that had to happen. Right now, all of his emotional connections to Peter were grounded in the boy ruining his things and he wouldn’t call that _positive_ affirmation of parenthood.

“Okay. Then let’s get to the kitchen. I’m gonna get you a bowl of Goldfish which you’re gonna eat before Steve gets home-”

“I’m not that hungry,” Peter slipped in.

“And it’ll be my fault if you start skipping meals. Just level with me here.”

“But I still get to work on the controller?”

“Yeah. That’s the compromise.”

And Tony wasn’t above compromises, even if they were with kids. He grabbed a few tools to take the rest of the controller apart with, and with a nod of his head, walked Peter to the kitchen. It was a direct journey and Peter bounced along behind him, pleased with being given a task. The boy ate goldfish while Tony wrote up a list of diagrams and notes. By the time it was all put together, half an hour had passed. Peter had sat on his bar stool quietly enough, watching Tony scribble while waiting for his objective.

“So here are your diagrams,” Tony said as he introduced the paper he’d written up. He slid the instructions across the counter and then leaned over it, arms folded in front of him. “I’ve given you a list of things to do numbered one through ten. Follow those instructions exactly. If you need help, look at the pretty pictures.”

“But how do I know if I’ve done it right?” Peter asked. He hadn’t even looked at the paper.

“Because the remote will work.”

“Okay,” Peter said.

"Bring it to my office when you're done and we'll test it."

"Okay," Peter repeated, reaching for the notes. 

 

* * *

 

 

“Tony, what is Peter working on?”

Tony startled in his seat and dropped his screwdriver. Enough time had passed that when he bent to pick it up off of the floor, his back pulled uncomfortably. God, he’d lost track of time again. Steve had come home at some point and Tony had missed it. Every muscle in his body felt like it’d gone on vacation. Tony tried to stretch it out only to cripple uncomfortably from the resistance of under-used muscles. Every joint hurt. 

“I gave him a little project. He kept breaking my things.”

“Well he’s been in there since I got home and that was three hours ago. What’s the project?”

“Easy stuff. A remote control for the dispenser I built Clint last week. He broke it. Kind of. I actually hadn't finished putting it together yet.”

Steve sighed and walked over to Tony, winding his arms around the man’s waist. He tugged up firmly to crack the man’s back, and then said, “I don’t like for you to sit in here for so long. You’ll give yourself back problems at this rate.”

“I can fix those,” Tony mumbled.

“You can also avoid them,” Steve laughed. “Why are you so difficult all of the time?”

Steve ran warm. His entire body was like a furnace and every time he came too close to Tony, it felt like a radiator was approaching. Now that the man’s arms were around him, it was way too hot. Tony enjoyed the proximity if it was leading somewhere, but when it wasn’t, he was just getting hot and sweaty for a bit of advice and that wasn’t going to work. He politely wiggled his way free of Steve’s hold and went to set his screwdriver down on the desk.

“Would you watch a movie with me if I asked you to?” Steve asked quickly. “And do you think you could separate Peter from his “project” for long enough that he'll join us?”

“I can’t believe the kid is still working on it,” Tony laughed. “That was most successful diversion I’ve ever created, and I’ve saved New York at least four times. Kids are nuts. They just… spring up and touch everything with their peanut butter and jelly hands.”

“He’s a bit old for those. He didn’t eat the ones I made him,” Steve confessed. He turned around and continued, “We need to teach him moderation. We’re both terrible at it. I don’t want him to overdo it. Go and get him and then bring him to the living room. I’d like to spend time with both of you.”

“Aye, Aye, Cap,” Tony called behind him as the man left the room. His joints ached and his neck was stiff. He needed to make sure that the kid wasn’t in a similar state.

Nothing in the kitchen had changed. Steve had left no visible remains from his visits to Peter’s new domain. The boy sat focused in his same spot with a barrage of tools and the instructions in front of him, just like when Tony had left him.

“So where are you at?”

Peter jumped and looked wildly over his shoulder at the Tony smiling in the doorway.

“U-uhm… I think I did it backwards.”

“Wh - _how?”_

“The paper was… I was distracted.”

"I'd like to know what kind of distraction makes you read backwards. That makes zero sense."

Tony went over to the remote and noticed it in shambles. It had somehow gotten worse. Hours later and the most that Peter had accomplished was stripping the various components down to more basic parts. Some were completely unusable at the point of looking. Tony glanced between the remote and Peter in confusion. Peter started to ramble in defense.

“I’m sorry. I wanted to help you out but by the time I noticed I was reading the instructions backwards, I’d already messed it all up. I’ve been trying to fix it but I think by reading the instructions backwards, I might’ve done some damage that reading the instructions forwards won’t fix, and I didn’t want-”

“Peter,” Tony said.

“-to get in trouble because I know I’ve frustrated you al-”

“Peter,”

“-ready by breaking it and that you were just-”

“ _Peter, stop._ It’s okay. I'm just giving you a hard time. It's not a big deal. I can make another one of these in ten minutes,” Tony said. Peter paused and took a deep breath. His empty, plastic bowl was sitting next to him on the counter and Tony considered it pitifully. He should've emptied the whole bag of Goldfish onto the counter. The kid was probably hungry. “What we’re gonna do is watch a movie and order some takeout, then we’re gonna come back in here and build this together, capisce?”

"I wanted to do it," Peter admitted quietly. "I thought I could do it, anyway."

"I gave you a dud," Tony lied easily. "Some of the parts might've been my mistake. It would've been an impossible fix. We'll just take it to my office and start from scratch. That sound good?"

Like a Christmas tree, Peter lit up.

“Yeah. Yeah, yeah. That sounds good.”

“Alright. Food. What're you thinking? Chinese?”

Peter was still smiling, wiggling in his chair and looking between Tony and the ruined remote. Tony smiled too. “I like Chinese food.”

“Then Chinese it is. Now shoo. Go find Steve.”

“But I didn’t give you my order,” Peter pointed out.

“I’ll just order the whole menu. Go,” Tony said, waving Peter off of the barstool and in the direction of the other room. He had a list of things in his head he wanted to sort through before sitting down with the two of them - first being how the _hell_ Peter had managed to undress this electronic so badly. Second being how he was going to help Peter not do it again if he didn't know how the boy had accomplished it in the first place. But third, the determination of a person that size, trying to complete something wholly out of their element. Tony was impressed. Happy. A little more clear on the whole effort of fatherhood and the small fibs it requires to keep a child from being too disappointed.

Not a lot of time had passed since Peter had joined them. Steve had taken to the the boy immediately but Tony had merely been managing a connection. They were like roommates with an age-gap. Peter hadn't even stopped calling him Mr. Stark yet, which was a bit weird but which Tony wasn't confident enough to correct. And yet he could feel (however slowly) the finer points of emotional attachment building themselves in one small event after another. Not all was lost, and Tony wondered if a bit of time might be enough to help him move from complacent companionship to a closer camaraderie. 

He quickly scooped all of the remote’s innards into a neat pile and then he grabbed his phone, smiling as he dialed the number to China House. He'd think more about it after they'd watched a movie, eaten dinner, and built a remote. Together. 

 


End file.
